Research in Irish Sea Suggests Japanese Seafood is Safe

04/21/2011 06:44:39

Radiation from fish and lobsters near the U.K.'s biggest nuclear polluter suggest radioactive material dumped into the sea from Japan's Fukushima power plant isn't a long-term health threat, scientists said.

The Sellafield nuclear-processing plant in northwest England has discharged at least 320,000 times more radioactive material into the Irish Sea since 1952 than what Tokyo Electric Power Co. released from Fukushima this month, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from both sites. Still, average radiation doses by seafood-consumers near Sellafield over 15 years have been half the recommended limit, studies show.

The Sellafield research suggests bans on Japanese seafood are unnecessary, said Richard Wakeford, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Manchester's Dalton Nuclear Institute. The U.S. and European Union are among nations that have curbed imports from Japan, and hotels including Shangri-La Asia Ltd. (69)'s luxury chain have stopped serving seafood from the East Asian country because of radiation fears.

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